Single Idea 5913

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / c. Ethical intuitionism]

Full Idea

We have no more direct way of access to the facts about rightness and goodness and their objects, than by thinking about them; the moral convictions of thoughtful and well-educated people are the data of ethics just as perceptions are the data of science.

Gist of Idea

The moral convictions of thoughtful educated people are the raw data of ethics

Source

W. David Ross (The Right and the Good [1930], §II)

Book Reference

Ross,W.David: 'The Right and the Good' [OUP 1930], p.40


A Reaction

Sounds suspiciously like 'the intuitions of people like me', and hence gets a bad name in late twentieth century super-democratic society (esp. in America), but personally I think you can only value education if you think educated people are superior.